Machines for removing the cores from leafy vegetables, such as cabbages, prior to the cabbage being made into sauerkraut have heretofore been made utilizing rotating knives or cutters that remove the cores. Such rotating cutters are dangerous, and the removal of the core reduces the amount of cabbage available for sauerkraut. As the cores have no substantial separate use, this results in considerable waste in the sauerkrauting operation.
The present invention recognizing the danger of the rotating core removing devices and the wasteful nature of such operation, eliminates the use of rotating cutters, and at the same time saves the material forming the core and allows this to be used in the manufacture of sauerkraut, thereby increasing the production for a given number of heads of cabbage and decreasing the expense of making sauerkraut. To this end, the present invention comprises a machine having a plurality of reciprocating, non-rotating cutters each of which comprises a plurality of cutting edges. The cabbages are placed on a conveying means that carries them beneath the reciprocating cutters. When the cabbages are in proper position, the cutters are moved into the core portions of the cabbages, neatly cutting the same. The cutters then retract, and the cabbages move on to a discharge point, where they are then transferred to a conventional slicing machine wherein the heads are sliced at substantially right angles to the longitudinal axis of the core, and all portions of the cabbage, including the core, are available for use in making sauerkraut.